Yup, we finally are out of the winter and headed for the Southwest again!!
We had to run over to Reno to get something called a ‘lift kit’ for the Pod’s rear end. Now I’m smart enough to know what that might mean if it were a middle aged human, but I was at a bit of a loss trying to figure what it meant for the Pod. Turns out I overheard Cokie and Kae saying it was to raise the rear frame a few more inches so that the hitch doesn’t drag on things. Great idea because I really hate that draggy noise thing!!
We tried staying in a Wal-Mart parking lot that night only to be told no-no. I think it is probably the only Wal-Mart we have ever found that wouldn’t let us stay. Nice security guy said, “just move over a few aisles and you can stay in front of the Winco store. They don’t care.” Move we did until 1:30 AM when the local police awakened us to let us know that Winco absolutely cares! Off we sneaked to find a quiet spot in front a quiet church in a quiet neighborhood. It worked, but frankly I was on guard all night waiting for the next patrol to find us! I was happy when we found a sweet campsite at Walker Lake next night and we got caught up on some zzzzzz’s. 
We headed down highway 95, past the White Mountains and right into the warmest place we could think of – Death Valley!
We stayed in this subtly beautiful landscape for over a week and I found it just as full of life as the last time we were here in 2006. I could smell the critters, I could taste the dryness and I really enjoyed feeling the sunshine. I am always running into the coolest new friends in these places. Here’s a little 2 week old guy, Peter, (in diapers no less!) on a leash hiking with his owners in the Salt Creek region. The rules say that dogs can not be on the trails in most National Parks, but hey, he is not a dog!! 
It was wonderful to be in warm weather again but we did get rained on twice and even awakened to snow in the mountains one clear cold morning.
My Ladies found amazing things again to see here: Ubehebe Crater and Little Hebe Crater
Mosaic Canyon
The kilns at Wildrose
The narrows of Titus Canyon
The spectacle of the entire valley from Dante’s View
After more than a week we headed off for environs east and more south stopping first to see my friend Max and his gal, Jane, in Las Vegas. Max and I have soooo much fun together when the Ladies head out to do whatever they most enjoy down on something called the ‘Strip’ and they leave us home to do what we most enjoy – sleep, eat, play, chase, piddle, sleep eat, play, sniff, sleep eat………., you get my drift.
They were all excited about a place called The Bellagio and a Chinese New Year exhibit that they saw. These pictures show how beautiful it all was:
We found an interesting place just a few miles from Jane and Max out in the wild countryside called Red Rock Canyon with mind blowing colors, rocks and mountains.
Speaking of blowing, we ran into some fierce windstorms out in that area which made me think our poor Pod was going to be airborne at anytime. I didn’t sleep much just trying to make myself heavier to hold the poor thing down.
I also noticed a very strange thing in the campsite across the road – “bunnies on a string!” You can imagine how that idea appealed to an old hunting breed like me. Actually these two bunnies were the pets of a couple from Pennsylvania. Their names were Blossom and Leipchien and they were very sweet.
We then met a very cool motorcycle pup named “Spirit” along with his traveling buddy Ara who were camped just down the road. We did a couple of good walks on the canyon trails and met other very cool critters!
After the Jane and Max visit we pointed our collective noses south and went to one of my favs, Katherine’s Landing on Lake Mohave. We had been here before and I just love the easy wading and swimming I can do.
This time we visited the Marina and found these really huge, ugly fish called Buffalo Carp hanging out by the restaurant where they can beg for crumbs. As a result these babies are sometimes over 3 feet long plus there were so many I think I could have walked across their backs out to the docks. I was told they are actually koi - just aren’t orange; still didn’t make them any prettier!
Anyway, we drove down to Lake Havasu City just to see the London Bridge. It really is quite a ‘loverly’ London relic set in the middle of the desert.
Left there and followed the Colorado River southward and then turned east to Quartzsite, AZ. Gals were there for a while to let the mail and such catch up with us and to catch plenty of sun. (More than I like ‘because it was like up to 100 degrees outside!) It did cool off at night, thank goodness and the sunsets are spectacular. It’s Arizona after all!
The Ladies had promised me some agua, you know water! I needed to rinse out about 2 weeks worth of Quartzsite sand and dirt from my luxurious golden coat, so a large body of water was going to be needed. They decided that the Gila Bend area of the Gila River might do. Off we went headed to the Painted Rock/Petroglyph area managed by the BLM and not far from the ranches and green farms of the area. It was nice to see some greenery for a change and this was one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs we had yet to see. That was fun but we didn’t find the river or lake we thought we would. Oh, well!
Drove east past Tucson to one of our favs at Catalina State Park nestled right up next to the toes of the Catalina Mountains. This park has great walking trails and even greater smells. We stayed a couple of days and then ever eastward to beautiful Bisbee.
We had visited Bisbee back in 2005 and the Ladies vowed they would return to see the Museum when its special mining section, in affiliation with the Smithsonian, was completed. I heard them say that the displays were great but the best part was the spectacular mineral specimens returned from the Smithsonian collections. Photography was not permitted so you’ll just have to go see for yourself.
So we are on our way to New Mexico and the Pancho Villa State Park. So this will finish our journal for now and we’ll catch up to you soon. Stay dry in the new spring/winter storms that have hit some of you and keep the faith the spring is still scheduled to arrive this year!
